ON MAY 12th 1920, dozens of Irish republican prisoners were entering their 20th day of hunger strike in Wormwood Scrubs in England. At the same time there were numerous reports in the British media that ‘special forces’ were about to be sent to Ireland to deal with the intensifying IRA campaign against Britain’s continuing brutal occupation of Ireland – this was despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of Irish people had voted in favour of Irish independence in 1918. Free article

BY THE SUMMER of 1912 it seemed most likely that there would be a Home Rule parliament in Ireland and Irish women were determined to ensure they would win the right to vote in the first election to that parliament. Their campaign was stepped up and took on a new militancy 100 years ago. Free article

MANY PEOPLE interested in Irish history will have seen the cartoons of Ernest Kavanagh reproduced in books. Very few, including this reviewer, knew the name of the artist — fewer still the tragic circumstances of his death. Free article

OF THE SEVEN SIGNATORIES of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic at Easter 1916, Éamonn Ceannt is probably the least widely known. Yet he was a pivotal figure in the making of the Rising and a commandant in one of the sectors where some of the fiercest fighting took place. Free article

16 Lives Series: James Connolly, by Lorcan Collins. Joseph Plunkett, by Honor Ó Brolcháin. Michael Mallin, by Brian Hughes. O’Brien Press, €11.99 each Free article

PÁDRAIG Mac PIARAIS (PH Pearse) grew up in a comfortable middleclass family in Dublin but one which influenced the revolutionary direction of his politics. From an aunt in County Meath he heard stories and songs of Irish nationalism, 1798 and the Fenians. His father, an English sculptor, was radical in politics. And the young man matured during Ireland’s cultural revival, quickly becoming a leader in the Gaelic League. Free article